The New England Patriots lost a grand total of four games in the 2025 season, including the playoffs. Two of those losses were in the first three weeks of the regular season, and the other was a 35-31 thriller with the divisional rival Buffalo Bills. (Out of respect for the fan base, we won't revisit the other loss.)
Regardless of the competition or the road this team had to go through to reach the Super Bowl, one would assume that, at the very least, the defending AFC champions would be considered a contender for the following season.
That's why it was somewhat baffling to see Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr rank them as the eighth-best team in the AFC. Even worse, he has the 2026 Patriots ranked 13th overall in his post-NFL Draft power rankings.
"The Patriots, with A.J. Brown, Caleb Lomu and Eli Raridon, among others, are unquestionably better than the 2025 team that just lost the Super Bowl. However, we can question whether New England can handle the rigors of a much more difficult schedule and an offensive line that will have no choice but to make drastic improvements," argued Orr.
The Patriots aren’t getting the respect their resume demands
With all due respect, it's hard to believe that teams like the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, and Cincinnati Bengals should be above the Patriots. Even the 6-11 Kansas City Chiefs, who lost Trent McDuffie and didn't add another impact wide receiver for Patrick Mahomes, are No. 4 after not even making the playoffs last season.
The discourse around the Patriots' 2025 schedule has gotten way overblown. Granted, the Patriots faced a much more favorable road to the postseason than most teams, but they beat three elite defenses (Chargers, Texans, Broncos) before falling to the best team in football in the Super Bowl.
This narrative feels lazy and tiring. The Patriots were the team everybody loved to hate for the better part of two decades, and not even the departure of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick has been enough to change the discourse.
The Patriots aren't a perfect team by any means, but there's just no way to justify putting them outside of the top 10 after a Super Bowl trip and retaining most of their core. They had a strong draft, Drake Maye finished second in MVP voting, Mike Vrabel was named AP Coach of the Year, and they might add one of the best wide receivers of the past five years to the mix. What are we doing here?
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